Evil Ties Within

Chapter Five

I woke up in my bed at Maya and Aaron's. The clock read 9:30am. I looked around and found Aaron sleeping in a chair next to my bed. I didn't want to wake him up so I silently got out of bed and went to shower. Then I got ready for the day. I always have to take a shower as soon as I get up. I feel disgusting if I don't. I like feeling clean. I walked back to my bedroom and woke Aaron up and knew I had to explain to him and Maya what happened last night.

"Hey, Skyler," Aaron said once he recovered from being woken up.

"Hey, we can talk in the living room. You can get Maya and I'll make the coffee, deal?" I asked with a smile.

"Deal," he said with a smirk, "it's good to have you back, Skyler."

"It's good to be back," I truthfully said.

We went to do our duties and when I went to the living room with the coffee tray, Maya and Aaron smiled at me.

I handed them their coffees and sat down. Maya spoke first after taking a sip of the coffee, which I could tell she enjoyed, and had her concerned face on.

"What happened yesterday?" She asked, I thought everything was going okay."

"I lied to you guys on the phone. It wasn't okay. I just didn't want to burden you guys with all the trials and stuff," I confessed.

"Oh, honey," Maya said, "if you weren't happy it wouldn't have burdened us. We would be happy to go through all that knowing that you'd be happy in the end."

"We love you like our own and would never want you to think you were a burden. You're not. You're a young lady who has gone through much more than anyone should have to," Aaron added.

"Can you tell us why you weren't happy?" Maya asked.

I swallowed the lump that formed in my mouth, "Lily was constantly judging me, making sure I couldn't do much other than work, clean and be at home. Dad wasn't home much so I mostly spent my time with Lily." I paused because this was even harder to say, "plus he chose her over me," I whispered.

"Who did, Skye?" Maya asked tentatively. I knew they knew who I was talking about, but they wanted to make sure.

I let a tear fall, "Dad. He chose Lily over me. I tried to ask him if I could live with you guys because Lily and I weren't getting along. It was difficult to live with her," my words were coming out trembling, but I kept going, "he said that because she was his wife he had to respect that she wouldn't like me moving out. ,I" I start to sob. Maya sits next to me, "I told him that I was almost eighteen and that even if he fought for me in court, I'd be rooting for you guys," I looked at Maya and Aaron, "why would he choose her happiness over mine?" I asked them. They both didn't know and had tears of their own in their eyes, "I just don't understand," I whispered.

Aaron seemed to get angry and said out loud, "He was wrong, baby girl. You're worth so much and him choosing Lily over you was a mistake! God, damn it, you're only seventeen and for Christ sakes you lost your mother, what was he thinking?" He was definitely angry. 

Maya looked at him very sternly but I could tell she agreed. If I'm honest, I didn't blame him. Aaron and Maya thought of me as their daughter even though I'm not biologically theirs.        

"Skye, you did the right thing by coming here. We will take care of you and I'm so sorry your dad did that to you. You'll be okay, it may not seem like it, but you'll be okay," she said while stroking my hair.

Justin came down then and he looked at me. He walked right over and hugged me. He and I weren't close and we've never met before, but that little act made me cry harder.    

"I don't know what you've gone through Skye, but I know of what you went through that you told mom and dad. Let me say you're one hell of a soldier and I will love you as my own sister. You're one of us and no matter what I'll be right by your side," Justin said and I hugged him and cried. He was so sweet and I really couldn't have chosen a better family to live with. I guess I got really lucky.

"Thank you so much, Justin." Sarah came down still looking asleep, but once she saw me she ran to me and engulfed me in a huge hug. I was taken aback, but hugged her right back.

She let go of me and whispered in my ear, "Stay strong little butterfly," I just looked at her and she smiled and looked at Justin and put one arm around him and looked at me as if to say, "I'm ready to fight." I felt like flying from how happy I was.

Maya got up and said, "well, it's settled. Skyler, you're going to stay with us and I'll get right on the papers for court," she turns to Justin and Sarah, "can you guys call your siblings and tell them to come for dinner? I feel it'll be good for everyone to meet our new member of the family." I was balling by this time and I was so overwhelmed with happiness that I thought nothing could be better than this.

                        ***

After everyone went off to do what needed to be done I decided to go say hi to my best friend. I was so excited that I ran to her house. I rang the doorbell and heard someone yell, "can someone get that please!" Then I saw Piper coming. She didn't even look to see who it was.

"Piper!" I screamed and tackled her in a hug. We fell on the floor and she was laughing while hugging me. Then it registered that I was there and she started to scream too.

"Oh. My. God. I'm dreaming! I have to be. You're a figment of my imagination!" I just looked at her like she was an idiot and laughed at her.

"No, I'm really here," I said between laughs. Then she abruptly stopped laughing. She pushed me off of her and got up and grabbed my hand and pulled me into her room. She closed the door and demanded answers.

"If you're here that means..." she trailed off. I got a sad look and couldn't meet her eyes.

"I couldn't do it the proper way. He is going to fight for me even though I said I wasn't happy and the funny thing is, he told me he doesn't think it's a good idea because Lily won't like me leaving." Piper got a dumbfounded look on her face.

"No! He said that?! What the hell?" She exclaimed.

I explained all that happened and Piper nodded her head and during my story I could see she was getting pissed. It isn't like her to get angry, but she has a temper that is unpredictable sometimes.

"That bitch!" She finally said at the end. I just laughed at her. I agreed, but Piper just made it funny.

"I know! But Maya and Aaron are going to fight for me. They're having all the kids over to meet me because I'm going to be the new member in their family. I'm so happy right now I could explode confetti," I said while falling backward into her bed, which I was already sitting on. Piper shook her head at me and laughed and fell backwards so we were laying side by side. We stayed silent like that for a little while and then I heard her doorbell go off.

Piper and I have a tradition where we run to the door, even if it's not our house, and try to be the first to answer the door and whoever got there first gets to pick the movie at the next sleepover. I got up first and once Piper caught on she got up and tried to trip me, the little cheater. I ended up beating her to the door and I stuck my tongue out as I opened it.

I was frozen. Tongue sticking out and everything. I couldn't believe who I was staring at. I didn't know how to breath and I just kept standing there unable to move.